Barrel-Aged Negronis Arrive in Boston Tomorrow

Good wood: this aperitif is barrel-aged.Photo: Courtesy of Marlo Marketing

Well, technically they’ve been sitting in Boston for at least the last eight weeks, but tomorrow night Temple Bar will finally allow Bostonians to try its barrel-aged Negronis. London, Portland, and Chicago have already embraced the barrel-aged cocktail trend, but Temple Bar is leading the way in Boston.

The process goes like this: bartenders mix up a big batch of a barrel-appropriate cocktail (in this case a classic Negroni made with gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth), dump it into a cask and let it sit for a couple weeks. Bar manager Hugh Reynolds’ barrel of choice: a charred-oak single malt whiskey barrel from New York’s Tuthilltown Distillery. Then the bartenders continually top each cask off so the cocktails evolve night to night, marrying flavors drawn from the oak (and its previous contents) with the unripened cocktail.

The restaurant tells us the new libation will make its menu debut tomorrow, just in time for the weekend, and assures us that we can expect to see more aged cocktails to come from the mixologists at Temple Bar.